The First Kiss
by VenomAndVine
Summary: The story of the first kiss between Hermione and one of my favorite Slytherin's.


**Note:** This is the first thing I've ever written and published. That being said, I own nothing, I just like to play with the characters. I hope you enjoy.

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It started out simple enough. Natural, really. They were both trying to avoid the pressures of dealing with their closest friends. They had a common escape. The library. How easy it was to get lost amongst the racks, to immerse oneself in a book and forget about the world for a while. Hermione had found her refuge there first. After all, the library had always been their safe haven, both individually and then together.

In her third year, during the whole firebolt fiasco, she had found a quaint little nook in the back of the library, tucked away behind the remedial muggle studies section. No one ever went there. The alcove had a large window that let in plenty of sunlight. The top half was stained glass and she loved how the colors would dance across the floor, shelves, and walls. The window had a small nook, perfect for curling up and reading, but not so perfect for revision. Hermione quickly amended this problem. She found a large desk and comfortable chair in an unused classroom and shrunk them to fit in her bag. She smuggled the pieces into the library, and with a bit of crafty wandwork, she had herself the perfect table in which to complete her research and write her essays. Some days, when things were really difficult, her little alcove seemed more like home than anywhere else in the world, like she belonged there.

One day, towards the end of fourth year, Hermione headed towards to the remedial studies rack to enter her little sanctuary and work on a particularly nasty potion's essay that was due the following week. As she rounded the corner, much to her surprise, there was someone already seated at her table.

"Hey, Granger," The boy seated in her chair said, "Should have known this was your doing."

Hermione stood there, blinked hard twice like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She swallowed hard, and unable to come up with anything else to say, responded lamely "Um, you're in my chair."

He smiled. His eyes twinkling at her. Hermione was confused, why was he smiling at her. Slytherin's never smiled at her, surely he was getting ready to make some cutting and rude remark. She steeled herself to stand her ground.

"Well, there was only one."

"I know," She said dryly, "I put it there."

"Right." He said, rising from the table, walking past her, leaving all his books on the table.

"Where are you going, your things are all over my table!" Hermione called after him, but he disappeared into the vast library.

 _What is he doing!_ Hermione thought to herself. Surely he wasn't going to leave his revision materials all over her table. This was her spot dammit and she wasn't going to be run out of it by some Slytherin. When she thought back to their brief conversation, in an effort to formulate a strategy for what to say when he came back, she realized he had not been rude to her. Abrupt, maybe, but not rude. She thought back to all the interactions she had with the boy in the past. They were far and few between she realized. The dark haired boy didn't participate in taunting her like many of the other Slytherin's did. He was quiet and reserved, rarely talking in class. She had seen him in the library quite a lot. In fact, now that she actively thought about it, he was there nearly as much as her. They shared several classes together, the usual potions and defense, as well as arithmancy and ancient runes, which meant he seemed to be the studious type.

Amidst her silent musing, he returned carrying a regular library chair, scooted around her and placed the chair on the other side of the table. He gathered all his open books and papers and shifted them to the other side as well, leaving her chair open with free space in front of it to do her work. Hermione watched with her mouth slightly open, a bit shocked by the gesture. It was clear he wasn't planning on leaving. If Hermione wanted him gone she would have to put up a fight with him, but he had been courteous enough to vacate her chair and she couldn't find it in herself to be rude to someone who hadn't done anything wrong aside from happening upon her library hideout.

She was still standing there, looking at him and thinking, when Theo said, "You going to stand there all day, Granger?"

"Um, no," She said uncertainly, shaking her head to clear her thoughts, moving towards her chair. "How did you find this place?" She blurted out.

"I was looking for a text on muggle history in the late 1600's to see if there were any major relevant events that I could figure into my arithmancy project, " Theo said, smirking, " but then I dropped my wand and it rolled over here."

"You think you can use historical muggle events in your arithmancy equations?" Hermione said, eyes sparking at the new idea, totally ignoring this answer to her query.

"I do, well, I was going to try anyway, I have a theory..."

And so began the unlikely friendship of one Hermione Granger and one Theodore Nott. They both valued their studies above almost all else. Though they rarely discussed it, they were also both avoiding friends they had little in common with. While Hermione loved Harry and Ron, they didn't seem to get her, they never wanted to talk about anything besides quidditch, the war, or plotting outrageous excursions. Similarly, Theo was an outcast in his social circle. He wanted little to do with the scheming and weedling, power moves and politicking so rampant in Slytherin house. So they found an easy friendship with one another, spending hours in the little nook, doing homework, sharing academic research, debating and formulating new ideas and theories. More often than not, they were the last souls in the library. It seemed Madame Pince didn't even know about their secret alcove and often closed the library with them still inside.

During fifth year and the reign of Dolores Umbridge, Theo had taken to walking Hermione back to her common room on the evenings they stayed too late in the library and got locked in. He may not have been the favorite Slytherin, like Malfoy, but Umbridge was dumb enough to categorize them all together. Theo argued that if they were caught out of bed past curfew, he could at least offer a bit of protection claiming membership to the inquisitorial squad. He could say he was escorting an errant Gryffindor back to her room. Mostly he just wanted to do the gentlemanly thing and escort a lady back to her rooms, but he knew Hermione would not be as accepting of that explanation.

And so, it was on one of these nights, where Hermione and Theo had stayed in the library way passed curfew, debating the morality of the felix filicis potion, that the inevitable happened. Over the course of the last few months, Theo realized his feelings toward Granger began to change. He started to notice more things about her, the way her eyes turned gold when she was excited, the way her hair caught the sunlight streaming through the windows, and most of all, the way his heart beat just a little faster when she beamed at him after he would make an amusing comment or important discovery.

Hermione checked her watch and realized it was almost midnight.

"Shit!" She said. She really dropped her guard around Theo and let the curses fly.

"What?"

"It's 11:47, I have to get going." She said as she started packing up her texts. Theo followed suit.

She grabbed her bag and went to put away some texts they had been looking at, while he tidied the table and extinguished the lights in the back end of the library. They had developed an easy system. He met her by the door and with a quick flick of his wand, the locked shot open. He held the door open for her, as she walked through. As they made their way down the hall, Theo made a decision. He reached out and grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. She inhaled quickly, her cheeks blooming red. She turned her head to look up at him through her dark eyelashes. He quirked an eyebrow at her, silently asking for permission. Hermione returned a warm smile, and blushed even deeper, giving his hand a quick squeeze in assent.

They said not a word to each other as they made their way up to the Gryffindor common room. Both lost in their thoughts, neither wanting to break the peace with nagging questions about the implications. If felt nice. The warm weight of his hand against hers. Hermione genuinely liked Theo. Holding his hand made her happy.

When they reached her common room, Theo came to a stop, unsure of what to do. Hermione looked up at him, eyes bright, and smiled sheepishly.

"Thank you." She murmured, gaze returning to her shoes.

"My pleasure, Gra—Hermione." He breathed.

Her eyes shot up to meet his again, searching. He had never called her Hermione before. He smiled and tucked an errant curl behind her ear. At that, she unclasped his hand and hugged him around the middle. He wrapped his arms around her in return and they stood like that for several seconds, enjoying the moment.

She took a hesitant step back and met his gaze, still blushing and said, "Goodnight, Theo"

His named rolled off her tongue like light and air and goodness.

"Goodnight, Hermione" He replied, his breath catching in his throat.

She gave him a small smile and turned to walk away into the portrait.

Without thinking, Theo reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. He turned her towards him and pulled her into his body. Her cheek rested firmly against his chest. She inhaled deeply, taking in his scent. He was pleased the note that she didn't pull away from him. He reached down and caught his index finger under her chin, lifting her face; her eyes, like warm honey, meeting his. He saw questions there. Questions he intended to answer.

He brushed his thumb softly over her full bottom lip, holding her gaze the whole time. Her eyes closed slowly on his second pass over her lip. He quirked his head to the side and leaned in, closing the small space between them. His lips brushed against hers, the whisper of a touch, barely there at all. She opened her eyes and was met with his piercing stare. The corner of her lips turned up. Her eyes searched his face, eventually landing on his lips and then flicking back up. His hand slid from under her chin to the back of her neck, his fingers tangling gently in the hair at the nape of her neck.

He pulled her to him, his other arm curling around her waist. Her arms slid up his torso to rest on his chest. Using his grip on the back of her head, he angled her up to him, bringing his lips to hers once more. Firmly this time. Their lips pressed together for several seconds that seemed to stretch into eternity. She broke the kiss, eyes fluttering open, meeting his stare. She smiled again and leaned forward, capturing his mouth with hers, still holding his eyes.

Theo broke the kiss this time, resting his forehead against hers, both of them breathing deep. He used his nose to nuzzle against her, once more tipping her face up to look at him. A wolfish expression crossed his face. He moved in and captured her bottom lip gently between his teeth, seeking entrance. He pulled back a bit and then met her parted lips, tongues reaching out to lap against each other. It was not a hurried kiss. It was slow and passionate. Both exploring each other, giving and taking, pushing and pulling. Her left foot popped up behind her, so she stood on one leg, leaning into him for support. It was just like in one of those muggle romance movies. Finally, she broke the kiss, with a few short pecks on his lips. She ducked her head to rest on his chest. His lips coming to rest on her forehead. Not a word was spoken for several minutes. They just stood there, embracing each other.

With a final kiss to her forehead, he whispered "Sweet dreams, love," as he pulled away and took a step backward.

Hermione was at a loss for words.

He smiled a genuine smile at her, turned and walked away down the corridor, leaving Hermione standing alone, staring at his retreating figure. She brought her fingertips to her lips and touched them gingerly, as if she could still feel him there, as if she couldn't believe what had just happened, as if she needed proof that she had been kissed. Theo turned back to look over his shoulder at her before rounding the corner at the end of the corridor. There she stood, beautiful as ever, cheeks flushed, breathing a little erratically, her fingertips against her lips, and Theo knew, in that moment, that he had fallen in love with Hermione Granger.

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What do you think? Constructive Criticism welcome, just dont be a dick.

-V&V


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